Search engine optimisation is
the process of optimising a web site to increase its ranking and positioning
within search engine results. Search engine optimisation uses many
techniques including making sure that there is content relevant to the
targeted search word or phrase in various key areas, and that search engines
find this content and list the site above other web sites providing similar
services.

A recent survey by the Internet Association Bureau indicated that 80% of all
Internet expenditure went to the Top 20 sites and the Top 10 attracted 96%.
If your web site is not in the Top 10 you are missing out on lots of
potential business.

Your first septs should be to:
● Highlight the search terms you should be appearing against
● Find out the number of searches per month for each of these search terms
● Review your competitors and how well optimised they are
● Collect quotes quote for effective optimisation of your site and for us to
get you to number 1 in the search engines.

SEO companies and sharp practice!

Be aware that most so called Search Engine Optimsation companies are nothing
of the sort.

Most SEO companies know the basics, which are listed on
this page. Once the above methods are exhausted, most have no idea how to
make further progress apart from with their invoicing techniques.

There are four main things to look out for.

"results or you only pay half our fee"

If a SEO company says "results or you only pay half our
fee" then what they are really doing is guaranteeing that they get half the
fee for sure (in advance). If you are unhappy then they already have half of
the fee and you have no room for complaint other than not to pay for the
second half.

Guarantees

Guarantees that you will be on the first page on at
least three search engines. If anyone says this, ask them which three search
engines. If the list does not consist of 3 from the following: Google,
Yahoo, AOL, MSN, Overture or Alltheweb, you are wasting your time and money
listening to any further talk about Guarantees. Some of the sharper
operators have three 'search engines' which they have made themselves and of
course on the day they check, you will absolutely be on page 1 of all three.

The second thing to watch out for with guarantees is
what keywords/phrases they are making the guarantee for, If you are a
pension company called "Adrian Parkers Pensions (Scotland)" and they
promised you will be on page 1 with the keyphrase "Adrian Parkers Pensions
(Scotland)", then you will find that once you submit your own site to Google
and your site has been scanned, you will always be number one with that
unique phrase. In this example, you should state that the keyword/phrase to
use is "pension" or "pensions Scotland". Now that is a much harder
proposition to make work.

The SEO company not explaining in plain English
what they are doing with and for your site.

If an SEO expert starts to talk about link popularity
and special algorithms only they are aware of and starts to talk about
normalised vector database techniques etc., ask them to explain it in
English. If they can't, it probably means they have read a document
somewhere and have not understood it. You should not trust a company that is
suggesting they can make it easy to get your site up in the search engine
rankings if they can't make it easy for you to understand how.

Statistics

If an SEO company starts to come up with statistics
about search engines and usage of search engines, be sure to ask for the
source of the statistics. We have had so called experts call us and offer
their services and as the conversation progressed, the statistics chaged
every time we disputed their numbers, and no sources were forthcoming. I.e.
the numbers were made up to suit their world view.